Regional Transit to hold public meeting on service reductions

Regional Transit held a meeting Monday afternoon to gather public opinion on plans to deal with a $25 million budget shortfall. Nine different service reduction plans are up for discussion, including major cuts to bus, light rail and paratransit.

All of RT’s latest proposals involve the reduction or elimination of service for bus and light rail customers. Options include shutting down the entire system after eight p.m. and on weekends. Last Year RT increased fares by fifty cents a ride, took furloughs, and reduced routes. But RT General Manager Mike Wiley says that’s not enough to balance the books this time around.

Wiley:“The way we will save money is in fact through further layoffs. Those layoffs will affect our bus and train operators, our mechanics, our people that service the vehicles, basically the people that perform maintenance work.”

Sixty people will be laid-off in April. And additional layoffs are scheduled for mid-June. Wiley says state cuts to public transportation and a drop in sales tax revenue caused the budget crisis.

The board will vote on the service changes later this month and they will take effect mid-June.